The COVID-19
pandemic amplified the influence of information reporting on human behavior, as
people were forced to quickly adapt to a new health threatening situation by
relying on new information. Drawing from protection-motivation and cognitive
load theories, we formulated a structural model eliciting the impact of the
three online information sources: (1) social media, (2) official websites, and
(3) other online news sources; on motivation to adopt recommended COVID-19
preventive measures. The model was tested with the data collected from
university employees and students (n=225) in March 2020 through an online
survey and analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling
(PLS-SEM). We observed that social media and other online news sources
increased information overload amongst the online information sources. This, in
turn, negatively affected individuals' self-isolation intention by increasing
perceived response costs and decreasing response efficacy. The study highlights
the role of online information sources on preventive behaviors during
pandemics.